New Haircuts

Yesterday, the girls both decided they were ready to humor their mother and went to get a substantial amount of hair cut. Eric and I are thrilled with the results. I can't count how many times Elizabeth has marveled at how cute Ashlynn looks.

So much neater!

What a cutie!



That's our girls. They are enjoying a LONG mid-winter break Thursday through Tuesday!
Daddy is taking over for the middle of that break as I leave for a scrapbooking weekend tonight with my sister-in-law. It's become a yearly tradition as I work to keep up with 4 scrapbooks. This was a decision I made when Elizabeth was a baby and I started thinking about having to part with her pictures when she would ask for them some day. I decided I wasn't going to want to give them up so the solution was to do scrapbooks for each of the kids as well as a family one for Eric and I with all of my favorite pictures. It's a big job, but it's well worth it and it's a great excuse to get away for a weekend.

Hope your weekend is fabulous!

Valentine's Celebration

I have had the privilege of being a room mother in Ashlynn's class this year so we had a fun hour of games and food to celebrate Valentine's Day yesterday.

My precious kindergartener.

Getting ready to leave for the Daddy/Daughter Dance. Here's Ashlynn...


Elizabeth...

and Bryan, not to be left out!!! Quite a few times over the course of the evening he looked at one of us very sternly and announced, "I big now. I go to Daddy/Daughter Dance!"

A practiced finish.

Daddy and the girls had a great time. Our eldest is most interested in spending time with her friends, but Ashlynn stuck fairly close.

Elizabeth's gift to us was a packet of coupons that we found on our bed the night before Valentine's Day. Here's an example of some of the gifts that resulted in the best laughs we've had in weeks!!

This certificate entitles Dad to a lesson in hand stands to be taught by me.

This gift certificate entitles Mom and Dad to dinner enething in cookbook. (Anyone free for dinner?)

This certificate entitles Dad to watch television for 5 hours without any interruptions.

This certificate entitles Mom to have Elizabeth take care of the family Bryan for 2 weeks.

This certificate entitles Mom to talk on the telephone with Mrs. Schuurman for 30 hours without any interruptions.

This certificate entitles Dad to borrow my pillow for 11 hours.

WE ARE REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO CASHING IN!

Happy Valentines Day!

A Taste of Spring

Wow, are we looking forward to spring. Yesterday was 60 degrees here in Michigan and we took advantage of every minute of it. Here the girls are trying to get rid of the last of the snow.

Today the temperatures are down to 50 and by the weekend it will be back to winter-like temperatures but today was truly a gift and we are so thankful.

Mommy's little helper in his rain boots. He had a great time helping to wash the car and Mommy only got a little bit wet.

A trip to the zoo was a welcome addition to our day as we soaked in the sunshine that has seemed so non-existant for some time now.

My sister-in-law, Brooke, and niece, Lauren, joined us at the zoo.

This past weekend, Eric had a chance to go to Chicago with 5 of his friends/former roommates from Taylor University. While he was gone we decided to pack our weekend full with helping some very dear friends leave snowy Michigan for sunny Atlanta, taking swimming lessons at one of the local pools and most importantly to a couple of of my children, a trip to Build a Bear to celebrate two very important milestones in our family.



What a boy! We walked in and I and my daughters were immediately drawn to the cute puppies, kittens and, of course, the adorable bears. My son chose the scaley (not even soft and cuddly) dinosaur. The dinosaur then proceeded to growl and try to take bites out of innocent bystanders. Byran's dinosaur was a gift in celebration of potty-training.

Ashlynn is helping to stuff Lilly, the adorable little black dog. Lilly was a gift for Ashlynn's decision to give up her "diapee" that she's always slept with. We are so proud of her for taking that step on her own.

Bryan adding the heart to his dinosaur.

What a proud little mother!


Have a great rest of the week!!!

Snowman snow, at last!

We have been soooooo excited to see the sunshine in Michigan over the last couple of days. It's a joke around here that you start to wonder if it still exists. Anyway, with the sun and warmer temperatures comes the melting snow and we decided we finally had the perfect day to build our snowmen.

Bryan scaling the mountain of snow that has piled up.

Ashlynn was diligent in her rolling even though the ball really didn't seem to be increasing in size.

Bryan might not be much help but he is sure good for a barrel of laughs. He went from sabotaging our snowmen, to rolling down snowbanks, to throwing snowballs at Mommy.

Introducing the newest members of our family, created by Elizabeth.

This is Princess Elaine and Prince Henry and their two lovely children, Jason and Shy. They are taking the opportunity to read a story as a family.

The creativity of children is so refreshing.

Have a wonderful week!